XVII
Ruth Ortheris sipped at the tart, cold cocktail. It was good; oh, it wasgood, all good! The music was soft, the lights were dim, the tables werefar apart; just she and Gerd, and nobody was paying any attention to them.And she was clear out of the business, too. An agent who testified incourt always was expended in service like a fired round. They'd want herback, a year from now, to testify when the board of inquiry came out fromTerra, but she wouldn't be Lieutenant j.g. Ortheris then, she'd be Mrs.Gerd van Riebeek. She set down the glass and rubbed the sunstone on herfinger. It was a lovely sunstone, and it meant such a lovely thing.
And we're getting married with a ready-made family, too. Four Fuzzies anda black-and-white kitten.
"You're sure you really want to go to Beta?" Gerd asked. "When Napier getsthis new government organized, it'll be taking over Science Center. Wecould both get our old jobs back. Maybe something better."
"You don't want to go back?" He shook his head. "Neither do I. I want togo to Beta and be a sunstone digger's wife."
"And a Fuzzyologist."
"And a Fuzzyologist. I couldn't drop that now. Gerd, we're only beginningwith them. We know next to nothing about their psychology."
He nodded seriously. "You know, they may turn out to be even wiser than weare."
She laughed. "Oh, Gerd! Let's don't get too excited about them. Why,they're like little children. All they think about is having fun."
"That's right. I said they were wiser than we are. They stick to importantthings." He smoked silently for a moment. "It's not just their psychology;we don't know anything much about their physiology, or biology either." Hepicked up his glass and drank. "Here; we had eighteen of them in all.Seventeen adults and one little one. Now what kind of ratio is that? Andthe ones we saw in the woods ran about the same. In all, we sighted abouta hundred and fifty adults and only ten children."
"Maybe last year's crop have grown up," she began.
"You know any other sapient races with a one-year maturation period?" heasked. "I'll bet they take ten or fifteen years to mature. Jack's BabyFuzzy hasn't gained a pound in the last month. And another puzzle; thiscraving for Extee Three. That's not a natural food; except for the cerealbulk matter, it's purely synthetic. I was talking to Ybarra; he waswondering if there mightn't be something in it that caused an addiction."
"Maybe it satisfies some kind of dietary deficiency."
"Well, we'll find out." He inverted the jug over his glass. "Think wecould stand another cocktail before dinner?"
* * * * *
Space Commodore Napier sat at the desk that had been Nick Emmert's andlooked at the little man with the red whiskers and the rumpled suit, whowas looking back at him in consternation.
"Good Lord, Commodore; you can't be serious?"
"But I am. Quite serious, Dr. Rainsford."
"Then you're nuts!" Rainsford exploded. "I'm no more qualified to beGovernor General than I'd be to command Xerxes Base. Why, I never held anadministrative position in my life."
"That might be a recommendation. You're replacing a veteranadministrator."
"And I have a job. The Institute of Zeno-Sciences--"
"I think they'll be glad to give you leave, under the circumstances.Doctor, you're the logical man for this job. You're an ecologist; you knowhow disastrous the effects of upsetting the balance of nature can be. TheZarathustra Company took care of this planet, when it was their property,but now nine-tenths of it is public domain, and people will be coming infrom all over the Federation, scrambling to get rich overnight. You'llknow how to control things."
"Yes, as Commissioner of Conservation, or something I'm qualified for."
"As Governor General. Your job will be to make policy. You can appoint theadministrators."
"Well, who, for instance?"
"Well, you're going to need an Attorney General right away. Who will youappoint for that position?"
"Gus Brannhard," Rainsford said instantly.
"Good. And who--this question is purely rhetorical--will you appoint asCommissioner of Native Affairs?"
* * * * *
Jack Holloway was going back to Beta Continent on the constabularyairboat. Official passenger: Mr. Commissioner Jack Holloway. And hisstaff: Little Fuzzy, Mamma Fuzzy, Baby Fuzzy, Mike, Mitzi, Ko-Ko andCinderella. Bet they didn't know they had official positions!
Somehow he wished he didn't have one himself.
"Want a good job, George?" he asked Lunt.
"I have a good job."
"This'll be a better one. Rank of major, eighteen thousand a year.Commandant, Native Protection Force. And you won't lose seniority in theconstabulary; Colonel Ferguson'll give you indefinite leave."
"Well, cripes, Jack, I'd like to, but I don't want to leave the kids. AndI can't take them away from the rest of the gang."
"Bring the rest of the gang along. I'm authorized to borrow twenty menfrom the constabulary as a training cadre, and you only have sixteen. Yoursergeants'll get commissions, and all your men will be sergeants. I'mgoing to have a force of a hundred and fifty for a start."
"You must think the Fuzzies are going to need a lot of protection."
"They will. The whole country between the Cordilleras and the West CoastRange will be Fuzzy Reservation and that'll have to be policed. Then theFuzzies outside that will have to be protected. You know what's going tohappen. Everybody wants Fuzzies; why, even Judge Pendarvis approached meabout getting a pair for his wife. There'll be gangs hunting them to sell,using stun-bombs and sleepgas and everything. I'm going to have to set upan adoption bureau; Ruth will be in charge of that. And that'll mean a lotof investigators--"
Oh, it was going to be one hell of a job! Fifty thousand a year would bechicken feed to what he'd lose by not working his diggings. But somebodywould have to do it, and the Fuzzies were his responsibility.
Hadn't he gone to law to prove their sapience?
* * * * *
They were going home, home to the Wonderful Place. They had seen manywonderful places, since the night they had been put in the bags: the placewhere everything had been light and they had been able to jump so high andland so gently, and the place where they had met all the others of theirpeople and had so much fun. But now they were going back to the oldWonderful Place in the woods, where it had all started.
And they had met so many Big Ones, too. Some Big Ones were bad, but only afew; most Big Ones were good. Even the one who had done the killing hadfelt sorry for what he had done; they were all sure of that. And the otherBig Ones had taken him away, and they had never seen him again.
He had talked about that with the others--with Flora and Fauna, and Dr.Crippen, and Complex, and Superego, and Dillinger and Lizzie Borden. Nowthat they were all going to live with the Big Ones, they would have to usethose funny names. Someday they would find out what they meant, and thatwould be fun, too. And they could; now the Big Ones could put things intheir ears and hear what they were saying, and Pappy Jack was learningsome of their words, and teaching them some of his.
And soon all the people would find Big Ones to live with, who would takecare of them and have fun with them and love them, and give them theWonderful Food. And with the Big Ones taking care of them, maybe more oftheir babies would live and not die so soon. And they would pay the BigOnes back. First they would give their love and make them happy. Later,when they learned how, they would give their help, too.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
Numerous typographical errors have been corrected.
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